Today brought my MTV and MTVu debut in the form of an incredibly sweet music video for Cloud Cult's Good Friend - from their newly released Love album:

We filmed it in three locations on February 2, and it was...cold. Ohmygodsocold. As in, high-for-the-day-was-10-degrees-Fahrenheit cold. Texts to a friend that morning consisted of helpful weather indicators like "my legs are frozen solid," and, "holy jesus it's cold." Despite Mother Nature trying to kill us, the day was wonderful.

Without further ado, a behind-the-scenes look at filming for Good Friend:

ThePlayground

The park with the most fabulous old metal play equipment.

WarmingTent

A portable ice-fishing tent served as our warming house.

This thing was a tiny miracle.

WarmingFeet

Musician toes + portable propane heater.

IceRacing

The playground was situated next to an ice rink covered in fresh snow. The adult boys made a game out of seeing who could run to the edge and then slide the farthest. There were very specific rules. The child boys won.

Swing

Adam Whisner on the swing set. In a sweet little bit of all things coming 'round, Adam was the Doug to my Kayleen in the last two Minneapolis productions of Rajiv Joseph's Gruesome Playground Injuries. When we learned of the casting, our text conversation went thusly:

Me: You and me? We're gonna be in a music video together. That makes me happy.

Adam: We're going to be yelling at each other. Next play we're in, let's just be in regular love 'n' stuff.

Me: It's a deal.

MonsterAtRest

The imaginary friend rests.

SettingUpTheShot

Setting up the long shot while Adam and I wait on the metal bench swing.

WaitingOnTheSwing

Adam and I waiting on the metal bench swing.

MomAndDadOnBench3

The pretty, pretty long shot of the metal bench swing.

HoldingHands

Reconciliation. Awwwwww.

MainOffice

Our intrepid director, John Burgess, standing in for "Sam."

MainOffice2

"Sam," pre-spaghetti-head.

MainOffice3

"Mom" and a spaghetti-headed "Sam."

MainOffice4

Charles Hubbell looking up something terribly important relating to Captain Underpants on IMDB.

LightTruck

The light truck outside our third and final location, awaiting load-out. The sweet, quiet end to the long, sweet day.